Aid clashes with environment goals

A report to be issued by the European Commission's external auditors next Wednesday (12 July) will show how hard it is to balance development aid and environmental policies.

The report from the European Court of Auditors looks at the European Commission's efforts last year to manage the environmental aspects of its development work in regions of Africa, Asia, the Pacific and Central America.

Broadly, it considers whether or not the Commission has "a clear and coherent overall strategy to deal with the environmental aspects of its development co-operation".

The answer seems to be, no. An environment helpdesk set up in 2004 to help the Commission's external relations staff is very rarely used. And a lack of commitment and co-ordination on the ground has led to some projects falling through altogether.

Expensive environ-mental impact assessments (EIAs) are often not carried out, because of uncertainty as to when they are needed. A _12 million project to resettle refugees in Guatemala, for example, was carried out with no EIA. According to the audit, "the resettlements caused significant damage to local ecosystems".

Sally Nicholson of conservation group WWF said it was not a question of choosing between refugees and wildlife. "An EIA does not say a project cannot go ahead; it says what can be done to prevent damage to the environment," she explained.

The audit findings are in line with what green groups have been saying for a long time, said Nicholson. "These problems are not insurmountable but the audit shows they do exist."

Nicholson said the European Consensus on Development, a new EU development policy agreed in November 2005, gave more importance to the environment than previous policies. She hoped the audit findings would help make sure this was followed up with action.

The audit is to be presented to the European Parliament's budgetary control committee the day it is published.

A report to be issued by the European Commission's external auditors next Wednesday (12 July) will show how hard it is to balance development aid and environmental policies.